


The Lost Years

by Fereael



Series: The Lion's Lament [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd Needs a Hug, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I love that there's already a tag for that because it's true, what happens during the time skip
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 13:20:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20310169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fereael/pseuds/Fereael
Summary: [Spoilers for the Blue Lion rout until right after the time skip!]Five years: Five in which every support he had relied on was taken from him one by one until only the nightmares were left. Five years that would reshape him utterly, leaving him all but unrecognizable. Five long years marked by treachery, death, loneliness, and heartache, all wile Byleth slept. Yet what really befell him in those five years?Or what happened to Dimitri during the time skip, beginning with the fall of Garreg Mach





	The Lost Years

The Lost Years

By Fereael

Chapter 1 Now for Ruin

"out of doubt, out of dark, at the day’s rising, I came singing in the sun, sword unsheathing, to hopes end I rode, and hearts breaking, now for roth, now for ruin, and the red nightfall.”

-The Return of the King

It was all collapsing around him. Everything. Every solitary thing that he had built up, brick by careful brick, to support his collapsing mind, shield what was left of him, of the person he'd been _before._All around him people were running, screaming, fleeing for their lives. He heard the clash of blade on blade, the thwack of arrows striking flesh, the cries of the injured, and the moans of those already too far gone to cry out.

It was all collapsing, all giving away inexorably under a tide of hooves striking stone and the shouts of the oncoming Imperial Army, under a tide of her treachery. Each cry of fear and pain, each shout of the oncoming invaders, was a stone hurled against the all too brittle shields he had erected around that younger kind of self.

Soon now, soon the spider web of cracks growing out from the impact points of each of those stones would grow and grow until those fragile walls shattered entirely and the desire for vengeance overwhelmed him, leaving nothing in its wake. Soon. He could already feel it biting at him, that need to reach her, to find her, to destroy her, it burned within him, the flames of it climbing higher with every cry. It intoxicated him, granting him the strength he needed to lift his spear again and again, the ferocity to bring it down over and over again, through heads and arms and chests, slashing away at all that stood between them. Soon it would have him completely. Soon.

“Your Highness!” A hand on his shoulder. A hand that did not belong to one of the Imperial invaders. “The last of the merchants and acolytes have been pulled out, along with the injured members of the guard. Lady Rhea asks that we cover their retreat!”

Soon, but not yet.

Dimitri Alexander Blaiddyd pulled his spear free of the body of his most recent opponent and nodded to his most loyal friend and retainer.

“Right, Dedue, bring the others, we’ll ensure that none of Edelgard’s vermin get anywhere near them.”

Then, without waiting for even an acknowledgment, Dimitri turned and raced for the gate. There was no reason to wait for a response, Dedue had never, would never, fail him. Whatever orders Dimitri gave the other man would follow to the letter, and wherever Dimitri was Dedue would be there too to guard his back. Dimitri knew it as surely as he knew that it must be he, and he alone, who struck down Edelgard. He had come to rely upon him, upon this brave warrior of Duscur. He was the most reliable part of Dimitri’s now crumbling world, one of the few pillars on which the balance of his mind still stood.

As Dimitri stepped out from under the arched entrance of the monastery’s grounds he saw that he was not the first to respond to the Archbishop bishop’s call for reinforcements. Byleth was ushering the last of the younger students to safety and, in front of the professor, Claude had brought some of his Golden Deer to stand before the oncoming wave of Imperial soldiers and Dimitri noticed with some slight surprise that the heir of house Riegan was fighting at their front, sword in hand, with a level of expertise to match those of Felix. Dimitri had never seen Claude wield anything other than a bow before but he supposed that a bow would not have done the other house leader much good at such close range and their role as a hastily assembled rearguard did not allow for any other sort of fighting.

Then he had reached the enemy and Dimitri no longer had time to wonder about anything except where the next blow would come from. He lost himself in it, the hack and slash of his blade, the movement of his feet and the cries and blood of his foes. His entire world narrowing to the length of his spear until he was no longer aware of anything beyond it.

Then a roar echoed from above him, animal, but the far louder and more terrible than anything he had ever heard before. His head snapped up, the spell of the fight broken all in an instant, and he saw. A Dragon. There was a dragon on the walls of the monastery. Its built was vaguely reminiscent of that of the wyverns the flighted units used, but this was no mere wyvern. The creature was massive, towering over the battlefield. Its grey-white hide gleamed in the sunlight as it extended clause each the length of a man's arm, and then it was leaping over him out and down, down onto the Imperial forces. Dimitri stood, frozen, for a long moment, just staring after the great impossible creature, and then his mind caught up with what he was seeing. It was attacking the Imperial forces, and they were fleeing before it. Perhaps if he charged forward in its wake it would open a path for him, a path he could use to get to Edelgard.

“Your highness! Wait!” Dedue’s hand was back on his shoulder, this time restraining him even as he had been about to follow behind this new impossible ally. “We have to use this moment to retreat!”

“But Edelgard! I must…”

“Dedue’s right!” Felix appeared abruptly beside them, “or are you really planning to get us all killed here?”

“Please your highness, we must fall back! There are people who still need your protection! We must get them to the higher ground beyond the monastery before the place is overrun!”

Soon, but not yet.

“Very well!” Dedue’s words broke through the haze of bloodlust that was once again beginning to cloud Dimitri’s thoughts. The Prince spun on his heel and the three of them raced for the gateway where he saw that Ingrid and Sylvain were beckoning frantically for them to hurry and get clear as masonry dislodged by the Dragon's talons began to fall from the wall above them.

Again everything became confused as they raced and scrambled for higher ground, ensuring that no one was left behind in the crumbling ruin of the collapsing monastery and Dimitri cut down all those who stood in their way. Once he saw an imperial soldier slip beneath Sylvain's guard, but before he could race to the young noble’s aid, an arrow flashed through the air to bury itself in the soldier's throat as Ashe appeared, a little ways ahead of them as though sent by the goddess to watch over their retreat. At some point he realized that Mercedes and Annette had joined them and Annette shouted something at him from which he inferred that they had been helping Manuela to ensure that the injured soldiers were able to get away. At last they reached the crest of one of the hills surrounding the monastery, just far enough distant from it that they could pause for a moment to regain their breaths.

“Did everybody make it out?” It was Ashe who asked the question, his voice trembling with fear and exhaustion.

Dimitri glanced around them wildly, Ashe’s words awakening fears of his own. But no, all of the rest of the Blue Lions were there with him, and there were several other groups catching their breath among the hills, including, a little ways away, Claude and the rest of the Golden Dear. Dimitri couldn't be certain from that distance but it appeared to him that all of Claude’s house had made it out as well so it looked like… Then his eyes widened his heart began to pound and sudden horror, “Where's the professor?”

At his words all of the others froze, looks of fear, horror, or concern, painting themselves so clearly over every face that Dimitri didn't need to ask if anyone had seen Byleth since their group had fled the monastery gates, he already knew the answer.

“Highness no!” Dedue’s voice reached his ears even as the other man's hand clasped around his arm for third time, this time using his superior strength in full to hold Dimitri back as he made to take off back down the hill. This time however Dimitri did not have time for Dedue’s protectiveness that good intentions.

“Let go of me Dedue! I must go back for him!” Dimitri twisted his arm, attempting to yank it free, but Dedue was the stronger and his grip held firm.

“If you go back you'll only die there too!”

“You don't know that! He might still be alive! I have to help!”

“Highness please!”

“Professor!” Dimitri tried once again to jerk his arm free but again Dedue would not release him. “Professor!”

He felt weight tugging on his other on arm and realized that Felix and Sylvain had moved to help restrain him as well. Dimly he was aware of Ingrid turning her face away, of Ashe wiping tears already flowing from his eyes, of Annette wrapping her arms around Mercedes as the older girl’s shoulders shook with sobs. Dimly. Dimly too he was aware of his own voice still crying out for the professor as he struggled to free himself so that he could go, could search for his professor, find him before it was too late…

Dimly, even as his own exhausted body betrayed him and his struggles grew weaker, and he could feel wetness pricking at the corners of his eyes, Dimitri could feel one of his few remaining pillars collapsing.

Soon.

**Author's Note:**

> So where is that "give Dimitri a hug button" we've all been asking for? Seriously. And I'm afford we all know that it's only going to get worse for him from here. Wile we do have a rough outline for what happens to him over those 5 missing years I thought it would be interesting to delve into them and the evolution of his character in greater detail so here we are. I hope you enjoyed!


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